The Ace and The Analyst
by ArecklessdreameR
Summary: A collection of one-shots about the wonderfully complex relationship of Aomine Daiki and Momoi Satsuki. Chapter III: A weakened immune system combined with a stubborn pinkhead causes Daiki to assume a caregiver role. But hell, when did Daiki ever take care of anyone but himself? [Second Year! Touou Duo]
1. The Skill of Seeing Through

**The Skill of Seeing Through**

_Summary: A sad young Momoi causes Aomine to learn a new skill. Who knew it would still make her happy till this day?_

_Date Originally Posted: 02-22-2014_

* * *

_Six years ago_

* * *

Aomine saw her just as he prepared to make another shot from the freeline. Barely anyone strolled through the park this hot summer day, so her pink head stood out like a sore thumb. He guessed he could make one more basket before she arrived. He glanced back at the hoop and threw the ball. The shot found its way inside the basket fluidly. He did a fist pump and retrieved the ball. When he turned around, he saw his friend watching from the sidelines.

"Hi Satsuki!" He said as he approached her. Only then did he realize her frown and how it darkened her normally radiant face. "Satsuki, what's wrong?"

She shook her head as her fingers combed through her long peach hair. "It's nothing Dai-chan."

"Oi, if it was nothing, then you wouldn't be so sad." Aomine pouted.

Momoi sighed in defeat. She felt pretty confident that she could mask her disappointment from most, but she concluded that maybe Dai-chan did not belong with the 'most'. "Fine. I'm sad because I can't braid my hair."

Aomine stared at her for a moment. Then he slapped his forehead and rolled his eyes. "Really Satsuki? That's what's got you sad?" He would not admit that he felt a bit relieved that her sadness might be something fixable.

"It's just that everyone in our class has braids! It feels weird being the only one who can't do it!" She reasoned with him. "You know Mom can't fix my hair since she has work and Dad can't do it since he pulls my hair."

Aomine felt that she placed way too much thought into this."It's not like you need it. You're pretty the way you are." He said so easily that it made Momoi blush a bit. He realized what he said and looked away from her. Well, he needed to change the subject quickly. "I-if you want to stand out, cut it then."

"Dai-chan!" The thought of that sounded so absurd it might have been scandalous.

"Sorry." He then came with the most brilliant idea he had ever conceived. "I'll braid it for you then. I'll just go to your house before school."

"You know how to braid hair, Dai-chan?" For Momoi had thought that Aomine only had basketball in his head.

"It's hair, Satsuki." He shrugged his shoulders. "How hard can it be?"

* * *

_Now_

* * *

"Ow!" Momoi whined as her dad pulled through the knots of her hair.

"I'm sorry Satsuki-chan." He placed the comb down. "If you wanted someone to braid your hair, then you should have ask Daiki to do it for you."

Momoi puffed her cheeks. "It's not as if he'd get up his lazy butt just to braid my hair." She got up and picked up headband. "It's alright. I'll be late for school if I stay any longer. I'll just wear it down."

She said her goodbye to her father and left her house. Waiting by the frame of the door, Aomine gave a loud yawn. "Took you long enough, Satsuki." He complained as they walked down the empty streets.

She looked away from him in frustration. "It's not as if you made me late before, Aomine-kun."

He groaned in response. A moment later, he noticed the headband on her head. He then sniffed the air and deemed that she wore some sort of perfume. Strawberries, probably. This obviously mean one thing. "Seeing Tetsu today?"

"And what if I am?" She quickly retorted. However, something felt off. She did not seem as snappy as usual.

He sighed. "Don't tell me that you don't feel pretty for Tetsu. He knows that. So stop trying."

That last comment irked her. What right does he have to say that? What if she just wanted to feel pretty?

Before she could argue with him, she noticed he stopped. The next second, she felt his strong grasp on her wrist. She came to a halt and cursed both him and herself. How could they have a fight this early in the morning?

Expecting cold words, she felt his hands run through her hair. A tingle traveled down her spine and she twitched.

"Oi, don't move." He barked. He carefully parted her hair and placed a few bunch in between his fingers. He could not believe he spent all those hours as a kid looking up tutorials for braiding. Still, this might be able to stop that annoying mouth of hers for a while.

She felt him twist the bunches together. Unlike her father, his touch felt gentle. It must have come from all those times he braided her hair those few years ago. He did not pull too hard, yet she knew that it would be tight enough to not look sloppy. After a minute, he asked her for a hair tie. She obliged.

"There." He said as he finished. Her fingers traced the pattern and she knew already he did a great job. She could not believe he did that for her. What did he had to gain with that? She could not understand his actions at times. When she turned her attention back to him, she noticed he walked a whole block without her.

"Hey!" She complained as she ran after him. He gave her an apathetic look.

"You looked pretty pathetic earlier. I couldn't stand looking at that ugly face." He said as he continued to walk, giving her no time to rest.

She finally caught up with him, yet she could only stare. While his words may be harsh, his actions spoke louder than usual. Slowly, she felt the ends of her lips curve up. Until now, he still could read through her.

"Thanks Aomine-kun."

* * *

_A/N: Please have mercy. I have not written fanfiction in a while and this is also my first KnB submission. Hope you enjoyed..._


	2. Glasses and Healing Touches

**Glasses and Healing Touches**

_Summary: Aomine used to wear glasses as a child. Through Momoi's need for a certain memento from their childhood, she may have realized that he might still need them._

_Note: Megane!Aomine AU._

_Date Originally Posted: 02-23-2014_

* * *

Why must she always do this? Really. This will probably the only winter Saturday Wakamatsu did not demand him go to practice due to the rare snowstorm that hit their town. His plan consisted of sleeping, eating, and searching up new models online. It would have been perfect lazy day in his mind.

Of course, she had to go ruin it, like almost anything else she touches. Twenty minutes had only passed since she entered his room, yet it seemed like a storm had passed through his room with all the junk that had covered his floor.

"Oi Satsuki, stop going through my stuff." He grumbled as she went through an old box that contained mementos from their childhood.

"Hey, Auntie told me I can do so. I'm trying to find something for a project." She said back as she set aside old pictures and drawings. "You should be studying for that test we have on Monday." She chided as she continued rummaging through her stuff.

"The text is too hard to read." He complained as he rolled on to his side. The task of reading in general made his head hurt. The only reason why he does decent in history was due to his teacher's long rambles. They proved to be boring yet very effective.

He sighed and looked down at all the junk they accumulated over the years. He slid down his bed and sat beside her. He recognized a couple of shells and stones they collected from different beaches and parks. The old drawings they created with crayons and markers cluttered the space between them. They depicted him being a police officer while she a nurse. Photos documented their adventures around the neighborhood and beyond throughout the years. Almost any picture of his had her in it, save for family reunions and the likes.

Aomine saw one picture of her kissing him on the finger. He groaned at the memory. Whenever he got hurt, their parents encouraged her to kiss his wounds in order to heal them. He would be asked to be done the same, but Satsuki accused his kiss of being poison. Man, even at that age she had been-

His thoughts got disturbed when she shook his shoulder. He glanced over at her and noticed a picture in her hand. It showed them in their first day of second grade. They had their arms around each other's shoulders; the other arms held out peace signs. He squinted and noticed she had her hair in pigtails. Cute, he thought but he wondered what she found so special.

"You don't see it?" Momoi asked him.

He quirked an eyebrow and shrugged. He does not have her observation skills. "You actually looked decent instead of ugly?"

She punched him on the shoulder lightly and sighed. "Idiot. You wore eyeglasses then." She looked at the photo and giggled. "You were so cute, unlike now. You're just annoying now."

"Shut up!" He said irritatedly. He grabbed the photo and tossed it into one pile of photos. He cursed his poor vision. He remembered hating those glasses since it proved that his eyes sucked at seeing. Include that one time a basketball flew right into his face, smashing his glasses into his face, and he swore off glasses at any moment he could.

"So mean." She mumbled with puffed cheeks."Hey Dai-chan, what ever happened to your glasses? I don't remember seeing them after third grade"

Aomine closed his eyes and tried to remember what did happen to them. He stood up and went to his cabinet. He grabbed the small rectangular box from the top shelf and sat back down beside her. "Here they are."

Momoi held the box and noticed it looked really big for something that belonged to a seven year old. She opened it and stared at it in confusion. The white frames did not match the blue ones in the picture. "Dai-chan, are you sure this isn't Uncle's?"

"Huh? These are mine, genius." He swiped the box from her hand and wore the glasses. She could tell by how easily they slid on that they did belong to him.

"Oh." She said plainly. "I never knew Dai-chan still wore glasses."

His head experienced a sharp pain. It has been a while since he last wore them. His eyes needed to adjust. "It's only for reading." He grumbled.

"Ah? Is that why you don't like reading?" She teased.

He could not retort as the world suddenly became much bigger. The details around him became sharper. He could read the posters that hung on the other side of the room. He could see the tiny specks of black on a shell beside him.

"You okay Dai-chan?" She asked when he stayed quiet for too long.

He looked back at her and wished he had not. He noticed the light pink tint that went across her cheeks and the way her long lashes batted faster than normal. He noticed the dark circles under her eyes reflecting the long nights she spent analyzing enemies for the benefit of their team. He noticed the smoothness of her skin. He noticed her pink lips and how soft they looked.

Aomine felt something curl within his chest.

He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He stared too long and saw too much. When he opened his eyes, he found her curiously looking at him. He bit the inside of his cheek. "What do you want?" He tried to say coldly, but he ended up sounding weak.

"I just never realized how blue your eyes were." Momoi admitted. He knew that the pink tint on her cheeks must be heavier than earlier, yet he could not see it. She sat on his outstretched legs and moved her face closer to his.

Suddenly, she grabbed the glasses from his hand.

"H-hey!" He stammered as she attempted to put it back on him. He held her wrists tightly. He would have kicked her away had she not been sitting on his legs. He had to admit: she played a very smart move. "What are you doing Satsuki?"

She puffed her cheeks and broke free from his grasp. She then forced the glasses on him (nearly stabbing his eyes and blinding him in the action). Again, he saw her in this high quality form that only his glasses can give him. Her eyebrows furrowed down and he noticed the tiny crease it formed. She gave him a huge pout that magnified her gorgeous lips.

He pressed his own lips together and felt that curling sensation from earlier grow hot in his chest. He needed to distance himself quickly.

"You really need them, don't you?" She asked him with a teasing smile.

He gritted his teeth. Before he could do anything, she closed the distance between them. His breathing stopped for a moment. However, her lips fell in between his eyes. He felt the soft brush and could only imagine what they would feel like between his own lips.

Huh? What the heck? While the glasses cleared his vision, the headache it cause blurred his thoughts.

She pulled away and moved back to his side. She did not look at him when she said, "That's to make your eyes better."

He smirked at that childish sentiment and adjusted his glasses, rubbing the spot she just kissed.

Maybe he should try busting his lip the next time she tried to unearth some childhood memories.

* * *

_A/N: I have decided to make this a base for all my future Aomomo oneshots. Look forward to that, I guess..._

_Daiki's glasses based on a photoset I saw on tumblr. Unfortunately I cannot link it here. If you are curious, you can google search "kiseki no sedai glasses". Somewhat AU since I don't think he would need glasses to this extent._


	3. The Art of Caring

**The Art of Caring**

_Summary A weakened immune system combined with a stubborn pinkhead causes Daiki to assume a caregiver position. But hell, when did Daiki ever take care of anyone but himself?_

_Note: Second year Touou duo. Trying to experiment with Aomine's nature since I believe he will still be a jerk but not as big as a jerk his pre-defeat self. Might have toned down his jerkness too much though so can come off as OoC (apologies then)._

_Date Originally Posted: 04-20-2014_

* * *

If there was any moment anyone could beat Daiki, it was the week before summer vacation.

As he passed the test papers toward the teacher, he felt his life escape through his fingertips. Curse the person who invented the threat of remedial classes! With the Interhigh quarterfinals slowly approaching, he found himself practicing harder than he did the whole last year combined. Unfortunately, this came with consequences. In his case, Daiki had to pay with his education.

Of course, Satsuki would not accept this. No, she would not let her childhood friend be part of the bottom third of their class. It would make the basketball team look bad. This meant a whole week of cramming and torture.

He did not understand her frustration. It was not as if the classes would interfere with any upcoming games. Somehow, the rest of the team did understand and threatened to remove his spot as a starter for the entire Interhigh if he did not perform according to their standard. In the end, despite sacrificing his sleep, he ended up on relying's Midorima's stupid pencil for guidance for English (and learning from Bakagami's informal English did not help either).

He stood up from his chair and stretched. He cracked his neck a good three times before feeling satisfied. Two more tests to go and this hell will be over. He scanned over to the back of the classroom. One thing he hated about this alphabetical seating arrangement was that he had to sit at the very front. On the bright side, it allowed him to be by the window in this godforsaken weather.

In the middle of the room, he saw Satsuki resting her head against the desk. Weird. He walked over to her, perspiration trickling down his forehead. He petted her head and felt irked by the amount of sweat she had. "Did you even take a shower? This is what you get for staying up so late."

She shifted her head to allow one eye to look at him. "Don't you think I know that?" While her words would be typical banter for them, her tone worried him. Her voice was low and her eye looked red. He pressed the back of his hand against her forehead and felt it burn against his cool skin.

Only then did he realize how wrong her situation was. Why was she not prepping for the next test? Why was she wearing her green sweater when it was nearly ninety degrees outside? Why did she seem to be shivering under his hand?

"Oi Satsuki," He said with a low tone. "You need to go to the nurse."

Her eyebrows furrowed down. She snapped, "Dai-chan. I studied hard for this. I can't just go now."

He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Stubborn as ever." He knew the importance of grades to her. He knew she studied hard, being Satsuki and all. Still, who would take a test feverish?!

The bell rang. Daiki looked up to see that the class' five minute break finish. Their teacher told the class to go back to their respective seats.

Daiki looked at his pink-haired friend and hung his head. "Hey, don't push yourself."

"Don't worry Dai-chan. This will be easy." Satsuki nodded weakly. The dark etches underneath her eyes did little to assure him that.

Aomine slumped back to his seat and rolled Midorima's lucky pencil between his fingers. The teacher wrote that the class had two hours remaining for the test. The ace groaned. God help him survive this test.

Daiki knew enough about Japanese History and remembered enough from Satsuki to not use that stupid pencil for every question. He hated being reliant on that stupid thing. He swore Midorima laughed every time he used it. Stupid four eyes and his superior luck.

"What can I get you?" The cafeteria lady's voice interrupted his internal rage. Daiki blinked and tried to get a grip. He looked down and expected Satsuki to save his ass (or at least a smack for being inattentive). Alas, she wanted to spend their lunch by resting in the classroom.

"Y-yeah." He stuttered. Man, he felt pathetic. "I'll get two sandwiches and one strawberry milk."

He fished for money down his pockets and paid the old lady. As she handed the food, she asked, "Is the milk for Momoi-chan?"

He stared at the old lady. She had a knowing smile on her face. He gritted his teeth and glanced away. "Y-yeah. She's sick."

"How very nice of you to get this for her. You're such a good boy to her. She's lucky to have a friend like you." She nodded approvingly as she shuffled down the cash register for change. "Ah, here you go Aomine-kun. Say hi to her for me."

He mumbled what could have been yes and left with a rather quick pace. Him? A good friend? That must have been the most laughable thing he had ever heard. Satsuki would have probably listed the many events he acted the opposite.

He went back to the classroom to find Momoi using her bag as a pillow.

"Idiot." He muttered under his breath.

As he walked towards her, chatter about Touou's ace filled the classroom. He never ate within the classroom. Some even thought he never ate lunch, period. Without even being told, the kid who sat in front of Momoi stood up and sat at another seat.

He set the milk on top of her desk and munched on his sandwich. After a few nervous minutes, the class moved on from Aomine's presence and returned to their normal conversations.

"Dai-chan?" She asked through a huge yawn. At this point, Daiki nearly finished the other sandwich.

"Yo." He swallowed and crumpled the wrapper. He aimed for the trash bin at the very far corner of the room and threw it. He caused the girls chatting by the corner to shriek and either received death glares or looks of admiration. He found the latter creepier than the former. He turned back to Satsuki and felt a bit of relief to see her chuckling. He checked for her temperature and winced. She felt even warmer. "You feeling any better?"

She nodded her head and gave him to biggest smile she could in her poor state. "I just haven't been getting sleep. I've been studying too hard. Silly me, no?"

Guilt welled up in Daiki's chest as the realization dawned upon him. Damn. She spent the early part of her night tutoring him this past week. They only covered basic that will guarantee his being in the top two hundred of the class. However, Satsuki aimed to be in the top twenty. Her lectures did not cover much detail. Did that mean she studied for herself during the other half of the night?

"Very silly." He replied with a heavy sigh. It was very silly of her to care about him this much. She did not need to burden herself with him.

"Here." He opened the milk bottle with a loud _pop_. He held it in front of her. "It will be…embarrassing if you will faint due to hunger."

She reached out for it, but he pulled the milk away from her. She pouted and opened her mouth to complain when he said, "Promise me you'll go to the nurse right after you finish. It's the last one and it's math. You should be fine."

She gave him a confused look. Strange words coming from her friend. "Alright." She tried to get her milk again, but he still held it away from her.

"_Mou_." She puffed her cheeks. "What else do you want?"

"Don't leave until I come for you." He felt his cheeks burn as he said that. He had to look away in order for him to complete the sentence. "If you don't make it home, both of our parents will kill me." He added rather lamely.

Satsuki stared at him wide-eyed. "Y-yeah." She finally received her milk. She did not want to admit how good it felt to drink the cool liquid or how nice it felt that he even bought her this in the first place.

She finished with a satisfied _ahh_. "Practice first. You better not forget about me though." She teased weakly as she wiped her mouth. She closed the milk bottle and placed it in her bag. "Dai-chan, I'm going to take a nap again."

He smirked and stood up from his chair. "Careful, this may just become a habit."

"Satsuki." Daiki yelled as he tried to wake her up. She only moaned and tried to kick him away. The orange rays from outside gave the nurse's office a warm glow. He tried his best to get out of practice early, but Wakamatsu kept yelling how even the ace should not slack off during the Interhigh. He looked up at the clock. Well, he had to admit that letting him an hour early was pretty neat (but he was sure that they only allowed him to go because of their sick manager).

"Satsuki." He tried again. She opened her eyes slowly. The usual bright twinkle within them could not be seen.

She rubbed her nose as she sat up. "Dai-chan, you stink."

"Oi, shut up." He growled as he flicked her forehead. "You're the one who insisted I go to practice." Through sickness and in health, Satsuki would act stubbornly only to him.

She frowned at the action and turned her back towards him. "You still stink. Just go home."

Daiki scratched the back of his head in irritation. Stupid girl. Neither of their parents would come home until late at night, so no one could drive her home. Even if they left now, the traffic would cause them to arrive an hour later. "You're really a pain, you know? If only you called your parents earlier, then maybe they would have picked you up during their lunch break. What do I have to do, carry you home?"

Within five minutes, Daiki made his way to the gate of Touou with Satsuki on his back. Thank God she did not weigh much. She had her arms weakly wrapped around him. He could feel her warm skin against the back of his neck. Both of their bags hung underneath the hand holding her legs, so they constantly bumped his thigh with every step he took. Man, talk about an annoyance. The things he did for this girl.

"Don't you dare fall asleep on me." He warned her as they walked down the busy streets of Tokyo. "It will be your fault if you fall and bust your skull."

She muttered something unintelligible into his ear. It will be a pain to carry her if she did fall asleep though. He should try to keep her awake. "Hey Satsuki," He started slowly, trying to find a topic that would not cause an argument down the road. "You might have done it, Satsuki. I might be in the top two hundred. You may have not have noticed it during the math section – since you left so freaking early to rest – but I did pretty decent."

He would hate to admit he felt a sense of pride to understand what those freaking letters meant. "Your boring lectures were actually effective." He felt her kick his shin. He squeezed her legs as payback. "You did not have to do it though." He said lowly.

She shook her head in response. Was she really this idiotic? Well, he failed in choosing a good topic. He decided to take this opportunity now to complain. She could not retort no matter what he will say anyways. "You're so stupid. Care about yourself first. I'm not your responsibility. You have no obligation towards me."

She did not say anything. He waited. They crossed an intersection. No reply. They passed by Maji Burger. She kept silent. They got on the crowded train ride home. He could only hear her labored breathing.

Daiki felt a pit of satisfaction and fear. He managed to shut her up, but did he say the wrong words? He reflected on his own actions. He did not owe her anything either. He could have left her at the nurse's office. The school would have let her stayed until her parents came to get her. He did not need to inconvenience himself with her.

Yet he could not imagine himself leaving her. Maybe – this was only a possibility that only maybe Midorima may achieve – the same applied with her. Maybe she tutored him not so that he would not ruin the team's reputation. While she cared about the team, he knew she would not sacrifice that much time for them. She complained about his laziness and how much better she would be if she could just let him fail, yet she continued to tutor him that entire week.

She acted not out of a sense of duty or responsibility. She simply acted that way because she cared way too much about him. With the revelation, he regretted his words.

He allowed himself to look back at her and nearly smacked his head by the train's window. He worried he might have offended her with his words. He thought she stayed silent because of anger.

In reality, the damn girl slept the entire time. He would have either laughed or yelled had they been alone.

"I swear you're going to be the death of me if I don't kill you first." He muttered to her.

"You won't, Dai-chan." She mumbled weakly as a response.

The train took a sudden stop and, instinctively, he held her even tighter. He had to bite down the smile that wanted to form on his lips. The amount of trust she had in him, despite all the crap he put her through, scared him. At the same time, it comforted him too.

* * *

_A/N: Apologies again for OoC Daiki (or Satsuki). I believe he becomes less of a jerk and more of a tsundere after his defeat. I realized I haven't written anything really romantical yet. Kinda strange considering I ship them so much._

_Anyways, thanks for reading. Reviews are mightily appreciated._


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